World Music Institute Presents Béla Fleck: Rhythm, Raga & Rhapsody

World Music Institute will present Béla Fleck on Saturday, May 4, 2024.

Béla Fleck has virtually reinvented the image and sound of the banjo through a remarkable legacy that has taken him all over the musical map. Rhythm, Raga & Rhapsody will celebrate the music of Fleck's career, including his New York premiere of "Rhapsody in Blue" performed with an orchestra, conducted by Eric Jacobsen. The multi-artist night features My Bluegrass Heart, tabla master Zakir Hussain, pianist Bruce Hornsby, and woodwind player Anat Cohen.

The latest project from banjo great Béla Fleck expands and explores George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue: by paying homage to the legendary composer while redefining an American classic - just in time for its centennial. The album was released on February 12th, a hundred years to the day after Gershwin premiered the work at Aeolian Hall in New York City. Fleck's Rhapsody in Blue album includes three variations: "Rhapsody in Blue(grass)," "Rhapsody in Blue(s)," and the classic orchestration, but with banjo featured instead of piano, conducted by Eric Jacobson with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

The evening's duet segment with Bruce Hornsby will pay tribute to Béla's duets with the late pianist Chick Corea, captured on the upcoming Remembrance album. Remembrance, a new double album out May 10th, serves as a moving final document of the profound creative and personal rapport that Fleck and Corea first showcased on 2007's Latin Grammy-winning The Enchantment. It's a crucial addendum to Corea's legacy, featuring three previously unreleased Corea compositions as well as five short free improvisations, or impromptus, that Fleck has infused with written music.

Béla Fleck: Rhythm, Raga & Rhapsody

Béla Fleck featuring

Eric Jacobsen & The Fleckharmonic

My Bluegrass Heart (Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz & Bryan Sutton)

Zakir Hussain - Honorary WMI Board Member

Bruce Hornsby

Anat Cohen

Performance Details: 

Doors: 7 PM | Show: 8 PM

Carnegie Hall - 881 7th Ave. Manhattan

Tiered Pricing - $30 /$35 /$45 / $55 /$65 /$85 /$115 /$135

Co-presented with Absolutely Live Entertainment